During the talent recruitment process, companies depending on requirements often screen candidates on the basis of their strategic thinking capabilities. Some methods have been recognized which are best practices in order to deduce such thinking abilities. First of all, in the recruitment process itself, they must be presented with some real problems to solve. While answers may differ they must all include some common points such as a list of potential problems, a strategic plan, tracking of key economic and industry trends, cross-department stakeholder consultations and business forecasting based on multi-year records. Answers to these must include interconnected or independent functional areas, solutions for customers and ways to measure success with proper metrics defined. Another method is to make them review any history flawed strategy followed by identification of problems to answer why it failed. Standard interview questions must include some strategic phrases such as multiyear, cross-functional, connecting the dots, root cause analysis, data driven decisions and strategic goals. Specific questions must be targeted which detect signs of such strategic thinking. Some such specific questions may be “steps taken in career to become strategic thinkers”, “process of identifying relevant stakeholders on strategic projects at present job” or “how to connect the dots between proposed strategy and interrelationships present at the organization”. Most interviews these days end with an open round being thrown open for the candidate to ask any question. This question’s strategic perspective must be considered.

Source:https://hbr.org/2016/12/6-ways-to-screen-job-candidates-for-strategic-thinking?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date&spMailingID=16117738&spUserID=OTY0OTMwNTk5NwS2&spJobID=921268863&spReportId=OTIxMjY4ODYzS0